Have you heard this interesting factoid before?
“Many social and behavioral scientists, in fields ranging from sociology to psychology to anthropology, emphasize voluntariness as an essential feature of friendship.”
Think about that for a moment. As it turns out, volunteering to help another person is essential to many undertakings including cultivating business relationships.
Another crucial element that falls under the definition of friendship is referred to as the ”person-qua-person factor.” It’s a term coined by researcher Gerald Suttles in the 1970s.
Voluntariness is a term for the concept of seeking to benefit others through exhibiting charity and goodwill, which often leads to mutually fulfilling relationships. From a professional standpoint, voluntariness is what fuels productive networking connections.
Pursuing voluntariness will make your business thrive for one simple reason: The more connections you make, the more connections you assist others to forge, the more benefits you will realize in your own professional endeavors.
On the other hand, attending a networking session out of purely selfish motives and not reciprocating in sharing connections is a short-lived strategy. People will soon see the focus is on self-aggrandizement.
So here are four of the most important questions you should consider as we go into 2015:
- Are you applying the power of multiplicity to building your network of connections through forging business friendships?
- Are you practicing an attitude marked by genuineness, absent of duplicitousness?
- Are you filling an irreplaceable role in the lives of other business professionals?
- Are you pursuing mentoring friendships?